SailorMoon RR
by Shar-dono
Summary: Consequences of the Future shatters the Past... At the End of All Things, Something lives, and attempts to reshape the Present and prevent the End... But you cannot rebuild History and expect it all to turn out the same... And Time keeps on slipping... ..
1. Kaonashi no Karei naru Henshin!

_It is far away, cold and dark.  
__It was also here, after "here" and "there" have lost their meanings.  
__He – It – stopped at the end of the Universe and hesitated but for a moment.  
__Its name was Despair, and it Despaired.  
__And here, there, at the ends of What Is, the brim of the Expanding Edge, the god cuts himself on the keen Edge – and thus it was, that all things ended with it._

_He was there, and She. Her, too, though she was barely a sliver of a soul and knew this not.  
__And so the great organism that was all things as one stopped dreaming, and died.  
__And with it, Space-Time crumbled._

_Slowly, at first, then faster, louder, making an un-noise, caving in like an old mineshaft, under its own weight._

_It falls…_

_And it ends, having no Time in which to fall in._

_It disintegrates_

_And simply wasn't, having no Space in which to once have been._

_And thus, it ends  
_

* * *

The Order of the Silver Knights has stood guard over them for a thousand years, commanding beneath it, the Ebony and Gold Legions of the Sunken Kingdom, and Lapis Knights of Rahu-Ketu, such as they were. 

The White Messenger was the first to stir, so, as according to instructions handed down to them for over a millennia, they placed him, twitching aggravatedly in his dreaming, under the open night sky in a field on a crescent-shaped island under the dwindling moon. He will wake soon in the after-glow of his dead kingdom and embark upon the first steps of his quest, which will in time, shape their true quest.

The Black Messenger dreamed on. Soon she too, will stir, and the knights shall do the same with her. They could do no more for them. _They_ were the only ones who could carry on now. It is the Messengers who must find the way, not them.

* * *

Imagine a clock of clockwork, its second hand balanced precariously on a point, counting time away. 

Tick, tick…

It slips, for just one second, backwards, then rights itself. But you can't help wonder, if only for a moment, what would have happened to that single moment. _What difference would that have made?_

_

* * *

_

_"If, but for a tiny slip in the clogs of Fate, we could have been together and made the perfect pair."_

_-- _Kaitou Ace, Codename wa SAILOR V

**SailorMoon RR: Kaonashi no Karei-naru Henshin  
****The Elegant Transformation of A Nobody  
**

* * *

Mizuno was running late, though she had no idea how she could be. She was certain she had set her alarm right and has never slept through one in all of her fourteen years. There was, however, no denying that the first bell was already ringing as she took a guilty shortcut through an unsecured yard. 

She had vague recollections of a dream in which someone beautiful was calling out to her through a tenuous light, just beyond reach. _"Ami-chan"_, it chimed softly to her in a voice full of the bubbly laughter of a gentle brook. _Ami-chan_, As if she was… a dear friend. Mizuno did not have many… _friends_. She had a following.

This was made up of people who would swing by after every test score bulletin, hoping to discover the secret to her success. Mizuno hated them. More to the point, she hated the question they made her try to answer – how do you do it?

_Benkyoushimasu_. She would answer firmly. Study!

The truth was, Mizuno did not know. Understanding came to her unbidden, like an unconscious bad habit. Most people bit their nails or picked their nose. Mizuno Ami understood things. So in the same way, she understood the ugly intentions behind those hands of "friendship" and the humanity of this appalled her.

"Resigned" isn't the right word, but it is the first word that comes to mind. Mizuno was resigned to knowing more than she wished to. She was resigned to admit that she was insignificant to her peers, if not for her grades. She was resigned to the situation; and determinedly resigned to being herself.

_The circle of five-year-olds would have been unremarkable, had they been poking at something other than a particular crying black cat. Children like these were always gathering in their little circles, poking at this or that off the side of the road until they grow up and learn to poke at other people instead. __Ami was not a nosy person. She was the sensible type, which in today's society meant you keep your head down and keep walking… …_

In a distant part of her mind, Mizuno stepped in behind the boys and loomed sternly over them, as formidable as an irate parent or kindergarten teacher. "Okkochi nasai!"

The boy dropped his stick in automatic submission. His friends stared up into her stormy face for a few uncomprehending, then evaluating moments, and reached the unanimous decision to run. Abandoned by his faithful comrades, the would-be cat-punisher Sailor V-Takashi tried to creep away as unobtrusively as possible while Mizuno watched, forking her waist. He got as far as the end of the lot before gathering the courage to stand up, then made a face at her and darted around the corner.

The cat was writhing about irately, trying to reach a pair of adhesive bandages crossed on its forehead. Wordlessly, Mizuno reached down and tugged it away. The cat yowled and jumped away as she did, leaving thin scratches on her forearm, and was gone.

She would not be able to explain afterwards why she'd stopped and why she'd protected the little hissing creature, only that she had somehow felt a tug of recognition, and the fleeting sensation that it was important.

"Baka." She mumbled dully of herself, rubbing a sudden ache between her brow. The episode had drained her and she wanted, suddenly, to go home and crawl back into bed. But that would be undutiful. And so, even though she was to spend most of the day being sent to the Nurse's Office and not fulfilling her obligations as a student anyway, boring old reliable Mizuno hurried away to school.

Ami herself could not see the symbol; the crescent, circle and cross arranged top to bottom, glowing, for a moment, the faintest blue on her pale face, where it hurt: spirit, soul and matter.

And once her nerves settled with some extensive grooming, the cat Luna, for that was her name, Luna, set out after her. The adhesives released a perfect crescent mark of shining gold, and she knew with the certainty of that burning Moon-brand that she must find this girl again.

* * *

"The Kuroishi is reporting in, ma'am."

The Officer startled, nearly dropping the slim folder file she was reading.

"It seems she may have a clue to one of the Guardians."

The technician looked to her dutifully, awaiting instructions. The Officer frowned a little, pulling herself back to the situation on hand.

"Very well." She responded. "Open a read-only access to level 1 preliminary contact files, and submit a report to the Council."

He wondered why they were not being more helpful with the vast resources of their organization, but then, it was not his place to question his superiors. That has always been the way around here.

* * *

Jewellery OSAP, on her way home from Crystal Seminar, was having a sale. Usually Mizuno would not have noticed such a thing, but today, something about the bustling store troubled her.

Such a feeling would have cued most people to avoid the store, and indeed, this was what her logic attempted to assert upon her as she ventured shyly among the other shoppers. But Mizuno Ami, despite her logical and cautionary nature, despite, even, her apathetic front, was the one person in a thousand who would venture into the darkness, in the full knowledge of all its dangers and consequences, of her own volition. If only to satisfy her need to see and believe. If only so that others, of lesser understanding and capabilities, would not have to.

She just didn't know it yet.

"Hello!" The owner swept up beside Mizuno immediately, wearing the same smile people have always worn whenever they wanted something from her, fake and anticipating, even gaudy, like Venetian comedy masks.

"Are you looking for anything in particular? We're having a special blow-out sale! All prices slashed! Even a Secondary School student like yourself can afford to buy something!"

Mizuno leaned back, startled and somewhat intimidated by the aggressive sales pitch, she stuttered. "I… uhm… I'm just….."

The lady smiled, and dragged her before a display counter. "We have a large selection of gems and stones in all kinds of accessories, I'm sure we can find something that suits you!" The lady pressed on persistently, pulling out a trays of simply set rings, running her fingers across the rows as if an index, now and again picking them out to thrust before the girl's reluctant perusal. Pearl, aquamarine, opal, blue topaz… …

Mizuno's mind was clouded over, her brain functions groping for some polite way of excusing herself and finding none.

"Aha!" The woman cried in sudden inspiration and opened a new drawer. "I have just the thing for you! It's a little pricey, but… I'm sure we can come to a deal!" She took Mizuno's unresisting hand and slid an intense blue stone on an elegant gold band onto her middle finger.

"There, isn't it beautiful?" Mizuno stared blankly at the stone. "Star sapphire, a rare stone for a rare girl. You have such beautiful hands, dear, look at how well it compliments the ring! It suits you, don't you think?"

"Medium light, strong blue, opaque…" The girl murmured in a daze.

"Excuse me?"

"This sapphire… the language of the sapphire is loyalty and trust… this doesn't look like a linde star, but…" Mizuno trailed off. _But it doesn't feel like a real stone_ sounded like a silly thing to say.

"You sure know a lot about sapphires," The woman continued to smile, and leaned in, whispering conspiringly. "I'll give you a super discount on it if you promise to wear it all the time, just because it looks so good on you!"

"But… …"

"For you, only 15, 000 yen!"

"I… I'm sorry, I… don't want this…"

Mizuno's head started to clear.

"But isn't it gorgeous? It would be such a pity to let such beauty slip away from your fingers, wouldn't it? Think of how much all your friends will envy you…"

"Yes, but the true beauty isn't in the gem that one wears; it is in the one who wears it." Mizuno replied quietly and pulled the stone off her finger with some regret. She could sense the frantic hostility of the store owner as she placed the ring down on the counter, but did not understand it.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the crowded store dampened. A low humming seemed to fill the mind, just out of hearing range. She inched carefully towards the door, as the shoppers and browsers around her started to droop. The low hum bore into her mind.

"Na…"

She must be coming down with something. In her vision, the well-dressed, smiling woman started blurred into a sinuous, contorted parody.

"Why…? Why aren't you affected?" She hissed in a strangely hollow voice.

"A… affected?"

Slowly, the people around Mizuno rose again. Like stringed puppets, they shuffled jerkily towards her, the jewels adorning their arms and necks glowing harsh and strange. Mizuno backed away, holding her school bag protectively before herself.

A dull, aching heat started to spread across her forehead, burning away the humming, replacing it with a mind-clouding sensation of its own, at once making Mizuno more aware of her surroundings, and less aware of herself.

"Mizuno Ami!" An urgent voice cut through the haze, crying out her name. Something spun through the air, over the crowd towards her. "Grab the pen and cry out 'Mercury'!"

She reacted without a thought. The object, a pen, fell into her raised hand like a ball to a glove.

"Mercury… Power! Make Up!"

She wasn't sure where the last three words came from, they just followed naturally. For a moment, it felt as though she was disconnected from the world, freed, just drifting away in a delicious coolness the scent of fresh running water – and she opened her eyes and saw the world in a new clarity. She felt the same, yet different, although she could not describe how.

"I…"

There was a moment when it seemed she was remembering something important, but it passed quickly and became forgotten. The first thing she noticed was the extremely short skirt.

"Ami!" The voice called again. "Sailor Mercury! Use your powers! Defeat the youma and save these people!"

"Pow… Power?" _Youma_… Demon? The day has definitely taken a turn for the stranger. Zombies, magical girl transformations and… demons? Even as Mizuno pondered this, her body moved of its own accord. Cool metal freezing against the spot on her forehead which was burning before, her arms stretched out in a video-game attack pose.

"Shabon Spray!"

Power coursed through her body in a pleasant tingle, blossoming at her fingertips into a thick white fog that filled the room. The zombie hoard stopped slowly and milled uncertainly in the opaque blindness as Mizuno groped along the walls for a way out. It occurred to her that there must be some way for her to see through her own fog and felt instantly stupid for not knowing it.

A small part of her wondered if she had snapped and if this was all a strange hallucination. How did it look to everyone else? Was she flapping madly around like she thought she was or had she merely collapsed and started dreaming?

And then she tripped and hit her head, and the world turned blue.

Preliminary investigations revealed that a wide visor covered her face from brow to nose and was activated by a tiny embedded button on the side of the thin metal circlet she inexplicably wore.

"Oh…" She murmured softly, slightly embarrassed.

The visor provided read-outs too, which did not look like anything she should be familiar with, but Mizuno found no problems understanding. Power levels and energy activities flickered in the corners of her eyes, running a constant analysis over her situation, which she found to be highly distracting after the first two minutes. She would have removed them, except the visors were her apparently sole ability to navigate the otherwise impenetrable blankness.

She could see, now, the skewed display cases and confused, ambling people. At the heart of the sprawl, the creature the voice had identified a demon. She could also see, in little scrolling golden numbers that it was feeding off it puppets and how it was controlling them.

"Hidoii…" A shiver of anger ran down her arms. She could not say why, only that something about this scenario made her… riled. Like earlier, with the strange cat with the crescent mark. She raised her arms again, barely commanding her own actions. The words tumbled out of her, more power than language, summoning consequences she did not yet understand.

"Shabon Spray… Freezing!"

The _youma_ turned just in time to get the full force of her attack as it impacted, causing the readings on her visor to ricochet, and shattered the demon into a shower of ice crystals, strangely beautiful as it scattered away. The fog began to lift.

"Hurry, Sailor Mercury, this way!" That voice beckoned again.

Mizuno looked around, searching for its source. Through her visor, she spotted a hazy young woman all tainted blue, her hair caught up in buns on the sides of her head and tumbling down in a splendid waterfall. But she was gone as soon as Mizuno reverted to normal vision.

"Come on," The voice continued to urge. "These people will be alright, but you can't let them see you."

"Why?" Mizuno asked, unsure of which direction to direct her question to.

"Because you are a Sailor _senshi_. It is better that you keep your identity a secret."

Mizuno looked down.

It was a cat.

A talking cat.

"I must be coming down with something…"

* * *

A secondary school girl stood across the street from Jewellery OSAP, cradling a black cat with a strange, crescent moon mark between its ears in her arms and holding an old-fashioned leather school bag in one hand.

She watched as men in meticulous grey suits and white-suited paramedics rounded up the confused scene for a few moments, then finally, turned and wandered towards home.

Inside OSAP, two men in grey watched as the 'paramedics' carefully checked each of the unconscious people in the store, running small pale blue crystals over their bodies to check for signs of residual contamination from dark energy. The taller blonde spoke to his companion, who was shorter and had brown hair. "This was unexpected."

"Not entirely." The paramedics were finishing up, three of them gathering the frozen remains of the youma into small plastic bags, another group straightening the jewellery cases. "After all, we suspected the Dark Kingdom had abandoned their initial plan to gather energy in England when they lost their commander there. I myself am not surprised they would start an operation here to gather more."

"I suppose you're right."

A third figure joined the pair – this newcomer, however, looked faintly ridiculous, a small girl of about twelve wearing a tiny grey suit. Like the other two, and the so-called paramedics around them, she had a crescent moon cast in silver pinned to her lapel. The girl's pin was more elaborate, however, and the two men bowed low when she approached. "Mistress." They pair said, in unison, and there was a real reverence in their voices.

"No one here will remember clearly the events of this day." She said, in a manner that left no room for questions. Her voice was high and childish, but there was a certain sharp edge to it, like she was used to being obeyed without question, which was indeed the case.

The tall blonde man nodded. "Excellent, mistress. How shall we proceed?"

The girl closed her pale blue eyes for a long moment, saying nothing as a symbol flickered fleetingly across the pale skin of her forehead. When she opened her eyes again, they remained unfocused, and she spoke in a low, monotonous voice – receiving instructions telepathically from their distant leaders. "Be sure this scene is cleared of all contamination. Do not interfere with the Kuroishi or her charge. You will be given new instructions soon enough, the Council meets tonight."

The men nodded. "Hai, mistress. It shall be done."

The girl's eyes focused once more, and she spoke again in her normal voice. "We are done here, I think."

"Hai." The grey suits bowed once more, and then shouted orders to the paramedics. The whole group was gone before the first of the people who had been knocked out by the youma awoke. Aside from a splitting headache and a certain amount of confusion, they were all uninjured. Most became embarrassed and left. Within a few hours, none could remember even the slightest detail of what had occurred at OSAP.

* * *

Silvery light shone from a source far above, illuminating the massive stone table. Ten people sat upon tall backed chairs around the table. Nine wore coloured robes and bore glowing brands on their foreheads – the symbols of the nine planets. The tenth wore robes of white, interwoven with shining silver threads and had no symbol on his aged and wrinkled brow. Not long ago it had been rare for the heads of the nine ancient houses and the lord-commander of the Silver Path to have a mass meeting of this type, but such meetings had become all too frequent since the troubles had begun a year ago.

A messenger had just finished relating the events of the youma incident in Tokyo to the council. The head of the house of Selene, resplendent in his blue and gold robes and with his shining gold hair, was overjoyed. "At last the second senshi has appeared. The others will surely follow soon..."

The head of the house of Mercury nodded; sea blue robes and thick glasses giving her a most serious, studious look. "Indeed. The weight of destiny would suggest so…"

"Ah, but we thought the same when the first appeared, and that was almost twelve months ago. Let us not get too optimistic." The red-robed head of the house of Mars, grim and serious as always, interjected.

"Nonsense!" The head of Selene house spoke up again. "We have long since agreed that the awakening of Sailor V was… premature, to say the least, and our agent's reports confirm this belief. The Shiroishi has been ineffective in his task..."

"We can speak of destiny all day and get nowhere, whatever it dictates, will occur." A deep, strident and somewhat arrogant voice cut in on the Selene-head's speech. It came from the far end of the table, from a man looking uncomfortable in his purple and black robes, round-frame glasses even thicker then the Mercury head's agleam in the bright light of the room. The symbol for Saturn shone dull violet between his eyes. The man's bespectacled gaze turned to the messenger. "Were samples taken of the creature, the youma?"

The messenger bowed. "Hai. They are already on their way to your labs, Tomoe-sama."

The head of Saturn house, Tomoe, grinned. "Excellent, excellent. This new senshi has already won my favour. V so rarely leaves anything useful behind when she defeats a youma. Far too inelegant in her methods, that girl… if only..." Tomoe trailed off, and laughed. "Gomen nasai, please continue, Hansu-kun."

Hansu, the head of Selene house, glared a moment at Tomoe for being referred to in such familiar terms, and shrugged. "I was more or less finished. I suppose the issue at hand would be to determine our next move. What do you think, Hideto-sensei?"

The white robed old man, the one who had no mark on his forehead, scratched his chin in thought. "This new senshi..."

"Mizuno Ami." The messenger supplied, automatically, then blushed slightly, realizing he had interrupted the high commander in the middle of a sentence.

"Hai, hai. Mizuno Ami. She is being watched?"

"Hai, lord. By two agents; the details of her mortal life are in the report." The messenger willed the blood away from his cheeks, as Hideto did not seem upset by his interruption.

"Yes, I see." Hideto glanced down at the report.

"Excuse me..." The voice was melodious and elegant.

Hideto let his gaze fall on the speaker. "Hai, Galouse-san? What is it?"

Galouse of the house of Venus was a man with an aristocratic and almost feminine caste to his features, clad in exquisitely decorated robes of pale taupe. "What agents, may I ask?"

"Himono and Baldwyn, of the houses of Mars and Uranus, respectively, sire." The messenger supplied dutifully.

"Ah." A light chuckle from Galouse. "So it is to be two men in grey, following the poor girl to school, always passing her in the street, always nearby when she is in trouble. The report says that this Mizuno Ami is a clever girl, non?"

"Hai…"

"I cannot help but feel, with her cleverness in mind, that she will quite quickly realize something is amiss." Galouse folded his hands on the table, looking around at the heads of the other houses. "A more subtle choice is perhaps in order?"

"An excellent point, Galouse-san." Hideto paused thoughtfully for a moment. "One of the Knights, perhaps? Hades?"

"Hades!?" The head of Mars house rolled his dark eyes. "Honestly, Hideto-sensei, you favour that boy too much…"

"Nonsense." Hideto raised a thin hand and ticked off points on his fingers. "You yourself have declared Ares' training inadequate for field work at this time. Hermes and Aphrodite are both in England sorting out the mess that Sailor V left behind her, and will be there for some time. Diana, Cronus, Ouranos and Poseiden have yet to awaken… and I think we can all agree that Zeus is completely unsuitable for any work that involves subtlety of any kind."

Galouse interjected. "Hades is currently keeping tabs on the first senshi, is he not, Hideto-sama?"

"True, and he has performed admirably against difficult odds. It has been almost a year, now, I feel he is in need of a change – with the enemy in England defeated, I consider this new outbreak to be our top priority."

"Who will keep track of Aino-hime if Hades is reassigned?" Hansu tried not to let any resentment creep into his tone – Hideto's mentioning that the Knight of the moon had yet to be discovered had troubled him. Having a knight representing one's house was important, and his house, the natural head of the others, lacked one still.

"Normal agents should do for her at this time, with Zeus as back up in case serious trouble erupts." Hideto tapped his knuckles on the table. "This is my decision. Besides..." Hideto nodded towards the head of Mercury house. "The 'weight of destiny' as Lady Hadora phrased it will surely bring V into cooperation with this new Senshi before too long."

The other council members, some reluctantly, all tapped their knuckles on the table as Hideto had done. Hideto smiled broadly and wrote a swift letter onto a piece of vellum laid out before him. He handed it to the messenger. "Relay the message to Mitsukai-san with all speed. Onto other business, then…"

The messenger hurried out of the council room and into the corridor. He was stopped, just outside the door, by a very muscular, red haired man in his late teens, bearing a grin almost too wide and feral to be human. "You have a message to be delivered? To Mitsukai?"

The messenger bowed nervously. He had heard tales of the knight of Zeus, but never met the man in the flesh. "Um… hai, Kino-sama."

"Give it to me, would you? I will deliver it to him." The messenger looked slightly worried, but the red haired man laughed disarmingly. "Don't worry, he's an old friend of mine, after all. Just looking for an excuse to drop in on him..."

"Ah, well, okay..."

"Arigatou." The man snatched the rolled scroll from the messenger's hand and vanished down a side corridor.

* * *

In another vast chamber, far darker then the one the Council of the nine houses had met in, another meeting was taking place. The architecture of the chamber would not have been unfamiliar to a Silver Path member, though it would be altered from what they were used to, twisted and warped. At the rear of this chamber was a raised dais, the stone of the cavern carved into steps, their sides covered in carvings of scenes of battle and sin. Atop this dais was a throne, and on the throne sat the Queen of the Dark Kingdom. Presently, she was berating one of her servants.

"With my beautiful Quartzite vanished, his mission lays in your hands, Jadeite..."

She still had not, to her servant's disgust, said 'killed', had not admitted Quartzite was dead. She, and by extension the whole dark kingdom, were better off without the arrogant pig, in Jadeite's humble opinion – which, having amongst many other features of his personality a strong sense of self-preservation, did not voice. "Yes, Queen Beryl."

The queen delicately nibbled on one of her claw-like nails – nails that Jadeite had seen her use to eviscerate a youma for spilling a drop of wine on her dress once. Her tone changed from lecturing to soft, almost sweet, quite an accomplishment for Beryl really. "Your early attempts have been quite successful, but this latest..."

"Was disrupted by forces unknown, my Queen. I will look into the matter and deal with the culprits personally, of course." Jadeite's face burnt from rage and embarrassment. He would deal with whoever did this, and would see to it that they knew exactly what a bad idea it was to cause him even the slightest irritation before he let them die.

"I am sure you will." The queen's voice was now almost a purr. "I hope the other generals will go about their missions with that same fiery passion, my dearest Jadeite. You may go, and make me proud." Beryl waved him off, and Jadeite stood, bowed so low he was nearly kneeling again, then turned on his heels smartly and marched the long walk out of the throne chamber.

He had grown cocky, was the problem, he knew. Jadeite would never make such a mistake again – leaving Morga alone and unobserved at that jewellery store had been the problem, as he now was not only short one youma and who knows how much precious energy, but he had no idea who had done it. He would keep closer tabs on his projects in the future. He would succeed where Quartzite had failed, and gather enough energy to revive the true Empress in no time at all.

* * *

**Authors' Notes:**

**SailorMoon RR: Bonus Track**

_Today's random RR meaning is: _  
**Rodent Revolution**  
and **Riboflavin Robots**  
  
SailorMoon RR is the final permutation of the 1996 SailorMoon epic fanfic Chaos Rising. It is not a rewrite, but a new story spawned from its original possibilities. It also serves as a "resting place" of sorts for old characters from various original SailorMoon related sources. 

The writing styles may switch between the two Authors, shar-dono and jadedangel and sometimes, their cat.  
  
The Meaning of RR is left deliberately open. Arbitrary meanings will also be suggested by us as it comes to mind. There is no point to this exercise. It's just something that happened in a discussion and amused us so much we have no intention of ceasing.  
  
Fanart and Fics, although not required, are largely appreciated.  
  
Suggestions or requests to include your old or original characters may be considered, but only if you use EMAIL. and even then, it is at our sole discretion.  
  
This will be the longest A/N for this story on FFN.

This story is mirrored at Fictionised and Anime-Fiction under the username a56kbpsmetaphor, together with further explanations and thoughts on the story itself (more detailed A/Ns, in other words), plus a little section to answer important questions ("what pairings will be featured" is NOT an important question).  
  
**Disclaimer:** This is a work of Fanfiction. SailorMoon is copyrighted to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, Toei Douga and various other subsidaries. Although the Authors hold no claim to SailorMoon itself, all attempts to plagerise the following story will result in mysterious and painful consequences.

shar-dono  
jadedangel  
04-Oct-2004 


	2. Ganbatte! Okkake no Michi wa Kibishii!

**_Disclaimer_**_: This is a work of Fanfiction. SailorMoon is copyrighted to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, Toei Douga and various other subsidaries. Although the Authors hold no claim to SailorMoon itself, all attempts to plagerise the following story will result in mysterious and painful consequences._  
  
The following chapter is brought to you by JadedAngel (chuckplickens shaw.ca)

* * *

The jam was not, by London's standards, particularly bad. It was not even much different from the more familiar Tokyo traffic conditions. Which was why it must have been something else that made the strange little foreign girl jump off her cab and take off into the alleyways, reemerging a moment later as Sailor V and charging to the front of the hold-up.  
  
Except, this was Sailor V, whose actions, it is often safe to assume, were based off nothing more important than the casual whims of a fourteen-year-old. Today, as she picked up the broken-down automobile waiting for a tow truck and deposited it unceremoniously on the sidewalk, it was because she did not want to miss the special TV report on the mysterious (and beautiful) vigilante, herself.  
  
Watching this tragic waste of power from a nearby rooftop, Mitsukai Hiketsu could only remind himself despairingly that Sailor V had done some good in her time in London. She had defeated a great evil which plotted to enslave the city and eventually the world – defeated it with his help, mind you, but that was irrelevant - it was what, after all, what he was here for. Her victory seemed to have left her somewhat cocky, however. In the month following the death of the head of the 'Dark Corporation', V had been transforming and using her senshi powers for increasingly unnecessary threats - from minor criminals to people being rude to each other on the street.  
  
Traffic began to move again, and Sailor V ducked back into the alleys, no doubt to transform back into Aino Minako and return to her cab and pretend nothing had happened. The sad thing was, people would be fooled by this flimsy charade. They always were. Some aspect of the senshi power allowed them to remain anonymous even when their identity was blindingly obvious. It was Hiketsu's resistance to this power, amongst many other factors, that had landed him his present job as Minako's caretaker.  
  
For over a year now he had followed her and reported her actions to his superiors in the Silver Path, and only twice had he been forced to intervene – the first time in her first few weeks as a senshi, when she had gotten too close to a youma and been injured, and the second time quite recently, when she had fought the commander of the dark forces in this city. Officially, he was not to reveal himself to Minako, and indeed, she did not know him personally – the name Mitsukai Hiketsu meant nothing to her. Hades no Kishi - the Knight of Hades, a mysterious figure in dark armor and swathed in a black cloak – him, she knew. He had been forgiven by the Path for intervening directly because he had maintained his own and perhaps more importantly the organizations' anonymity.  
  
Caught up in reconsidering the events of the past year, Hiketsu almost did not notice the man sneaking up behind him until it was too late. As it was, he turned just in time to avoid being tackled, an action that would surely have knocked him off the building and to the street below. Caught, the man behind him grinned disarmingly and bowed.  
  
"Hello, Hiketsu. How are you?" He tried to say. His English was not excellent.  
  
Hiketsu nodded at the man. "Tenoroshi. To what do I owe the dubious pleasure of your presence today?"  
  
Kino Tenoroshi walked up to the edge of the roof, leaning over so far that Hiketsu felt sure he would overbalance and fall from the weight of his unnaturally stiff, spiked red hair. Straightening up again, he promptly changed the subject. "Did I miss the action?"  
  
"Yes. There was not much to see, anyway. Why are you here?" Hiketsu was always nervy around Kino Tenoroshi, as was anyone who had known the man for more then a few minutes.  
  
"Is that herself in the cab? The blonde girl with the bow?" Tenoroshi grinned. "Wow, she's a pretty one! You lucky dog..."  
  
"Yes, I consider myself quite lucky to be in a position where I must continuously watch a lovely young girl and never speak to her or interact with her directly in any way." Hiketsu's voice dripped sarcasm, which of course Tenoroshi just ignored as usual. "Why are you here, Zeus?"  
  
"Oh, just playing messenger, here." Tenoroshi reached into his jacket and placed a thick piece of vellum in Hiketsu's hands. "Do you have a nice apartment here... I mean, I'll probably have to redecorate, but…"  
  
Hiketsu chose to ignore this latest stream of nonsense and instead read the message. It was brief and very official looking. "From the old man himself..." Hiketsu murmured to himself as he read the elaborate script Hideto chose to write in, a somewhat simplified version of the ancient written language found on Silver Empire ruins. The message was clear – Hiketsu was being recalled. His task in London was over – and here was Tenoroshi talking about his apartment.  
  
"Oh, no..." Hiketsu looked at Tenoroshi in horror.  
  
"Oh, yes!" Tenoroshi responded, gleefully. "I am to take over your duties here. Well, half of them."  
  
"Half of them?" Hiketsu was flabbergasted. Tenoroshi was powerful, no one could deny that, and if tasked to protect Aino Minako that is what he would do. From anything. Including strong winds and insects.  
  
"Yes. If Minako should find herself in trouble, the incredibly dashing and potent knight of Zeus will come to her rescue. The rather boring task of actually observing her day to day activities..." Despite decrying that part of the mission as boring, the red haired man seemed more then a little wistful. "... will be handled by regular agents. Your work is done here, Hiketsu." Tenoroshi patted Hiketsu's arm, in a gesture meant to be comforting and which worked out to be merely patronizing.  
  
"Look, Tenoroshi, I'm being reassigned, not exiled..."  
  
"Whatever you say, Hiketsu! In any case, it took me rather longer then I had thought it would to find you, so you'd best get a move on. I'll hold down the fort here!" Tenoroshi began to wander off.  
  
"Uhh... how much longer?" Hiketsu had a sinking feeling.  
  
"Oh, three or four hours more. In fact they're probably wondering where you are back at the big double N. Better hurry, young knight!"  
  
Hiketsu sighed, stammered, began to say something, and then gave up in the face of Tenoroshi's maniacal grin. Heading to the edge of the roof, he leapt smoothly to the next one, ran across it, and leapt again, heading towards the nearest Gate out of London.

* * *

__

  
"Wow, she's a pretty one! You lucky dog..."  
"Yes, I consider myself quite lucky..."

-- Kino Tenoroshi & Mitsukai Hiketsu, above

**SailorMoon RR: Ganbatte! Okkake no Michi wa Kibishii!  
Hang in There! The Way of a Star-Chaser is Tough!  
**

****

* * *

Teetering stacks of dusty folders covered the desk, and still more papers were piled on the floor beside it. Jonathon Atkins adjusted his glasses, opening what felt like the millionth plain brown folder today (it was in fact only the one-thousand eleventh). Another page of blank expense reports, reviewed and signed for by a "Q. Zite". For over three weeks, he had been looking over the extensive records of the so called 'Darke Corporation', looking for signs of their greater plans. Some interesting facts had emerged, but not much considering the sheer volume of records he had been through – and he was not even half done.  
  
Jonathon looked up from the page as his partner entered the room – unlike Jonathon, who was small of build, pale and bespectacled, his partner was tall and muscular, and in possession of a grin that could melt any girl's heart. And some men, Jon reflected, himself included.  
  
"Hey, Jon! Find anything else?" Anton Galouse had a camera around his neck – he had been photographing some of the anomalies discovered by the duo in their investigation.  
  
"No, unfortunately..." Jonathon stood and embraced Anton tightly for a moment.  
  
The pair was very different – Jon was an orphan raised by the house of Mercury, Anton was the firstborn son of the head of the house of Venus. Still, they had been, with Hades, the first knights to be appointed – Hermes and Aphrodite, respectively. Unlike Hades, who had nearly always worked alone on assignments, the pair had worked together more often then not over the years – Jon's intelligence proving an excellent supplement to Anton's charm and strength.  
  
What had begun as a working relationship years ago had blossomed over time into something much more intimate. The Silver Path was mildly approving of this – it just increased their loyalty to each other after all. Their latest assignment began after Hades had sent in a report detailing that the apparent mastermind of the attacks on London's populace over the last year had been killed by Sailor V (and Hades himself, though Hiketsu had wisely downplayed that in the report) and that the cover this being had operated behind on Earth - the Darke Corporation - was ripe for investigation.  
  
Anton smiled. "Oh well, hopefully what I found will cheer you up..."  
  
"What have you found?"  
  
Anton activated his camera, and scrolled through the images stored in its memory, eventually reaching the one he was seeking. "See for yourself... seem familiar, at all?"  
  
Jon looked at the small screen. It displayed a somewhat darkened image of a concrete wall with strange symbols embossed in it. It did indeed look familiar. "Gods... a Gate!" He exclaimed.  
  
"Indeed." Anton seemed pleased with himself. He had originally tried helping Jon at searching through the folders, but he just did not have that type of brainpower. Therefore he had taken to sweeping the building, top to bottom. Very near the bottom, in the underground parking, he had finally found something remarkable.  
  
"A Gate to where, though...?" Jon muttered to himself, scratching the back of his head, a nervous habit he was completely unaware of, and one that Anton found adorable.  
  
"No idea." Anton shrugged. "I couldn't get it to activate. It seems to require some sort of negative energy to open it."  
  
"Yes, yes, of course." Jonathon was deep in thought. "We could get someone from House Saturn out here and..."  
  
"Open it, then charge screaming into the enemy's lair, determined to achieve glory? Victory or death?" Anton chuckled. "I think not. We should just keep an eye on it, I should think. Until we know what we're dealing with. Have you heard, by the way?"  
  
Jonathon was blushing. Of course, it would be foolish to open the gate at this time. They had no real idea what was on the other side of it. "Heard what?"  
  
"There have been more attacks." Anton was privy, through his father, to somewhat more of the path's intelligence then his lover.  
  
"What, here? I didn't see anything in Hades' reports except notes that V was getting a little carried away."  
  
"No, in Tokyo." Anton folded his arms behind his back, remembering the details. "Two demons so far. One was detected just as it finished its business, and got away. The other was destroyed by one of _them_."  
  
"A _senshi_!?" Jonathon was taken aback.  
  
"Yes. A Sailor Mercury, to be exact." Anton grinned. He had been saving up that detail, knowing it would get a reaction.  
  
"Mercury..!" Jon did not disappoint Anton at all. He clenched his fists and sat down heavily on the edge of the desk, nearly knocking a pile of paper onto the floor in the process. "So..."  
  
Anton sat down beside Jon, took his hand. "Indeed – our counterparts have both appeared. Strange, _nes pas_? That mine and yours should appear first."  
  
"Fate." Jon shrugged uncertainly. "It's so difficult in our business to figure out what meanings to apply to things, sometimes."  
  
"Indeed. And mine is a relentless attention whore, and yours is by all reports a rather reluctant but competent girl. How like us! Oh well, _c'est la viv_."  
  
Jon chuckled at the pun. He had once watched a news report from Japan, where they had pronounced 'Sailor V' more or less the same as the old French saying. "Is there any other news then, Anton?"  
  
"Yes, some. Zeus is in town..."  
  
"That maniac? Why..!?"  
  
"To relieve Hades, who is being reassigned to guard Sailor Mercury in Japan."  
  
"A strange choice…"  
  
"Perhaps they are just tired of him back at base. At any rate, there shouldn't be much call for rescue here, now, with Quartzite dead..."  
  
"True."  
  
Anton patted Jonathon gently on the back, then got off the desk. "I'm going to go call in a team to get readings on that gate. I'll leave you to your work."  
  
"Yes, I suppose I should get back to it." Jon sighed, and got back behind the desk. Another folder was opened. More financial records.  
  
Anton moved to leave the room, opening the door. Before he left, he turned back towards Jonathon at the desk. "Jon – things are progressing. It looks like life will be very interesting soon."  
  
"That is good to know." Jon nodded. "I'll see you tonight."  
  
"Yes, tonight." Anton closed the door behind him, leaving Jonathon in the silence and dust once more.

* * *

The alley was dark, and stank more then a little – a narrow corridor between two towering buildings, the walls rising high on either side, the street lights a soft glow coming from either end. Walking a dozen or so meters into the alley and carefully sidestepping a sleeping cat, Mitsukai Hiketsu let his vision fade, unfocusing his eyes, watching the alleys trash, brick and concrete blur together into a gray-red fog. With material blurred and lost, the immaterial became apparent – a pale violet light shining only a few paces ahead of him from the wall of one of the buildings, low to the concrete ground.  
  
Letting his eyes focus once more, Hiketsu walked to the source of the light and knelt to get a better look. He smiled, slightly – he needn't have bothered with second-sight. Carved into one of the building's foundation blocks there was a dedication, stating the year of its construction. Above the text was an elaborate sigil, quite familiar to Hiketsu – a crescent moon with eight astronomical symbols arranged around it. His goal had been clearly marked, which was fortunate as this would be the first time that Hiketsu had ever used this particular pathway. Raising his left hand arm, he shifted his fingers into the gesture of power and, with his right index finger, traced the lines of the sigil, feeling the rough concrete beneath his finger.  
  
The first pass of Hiketsu's finger over the embossed lines brought the magical light the sigil emitted into the realm of normal vision. The second brought a change in texture, the feeling of concrete giving away to smooth, glassy coolness. The light intensified as Hiketsu moved his finger across the intricate lines a third and final time - the violet light filled his vision for a moment, and then all was darkness…  
  
The alley cat, which had been woken by Hiketsu's passing and had been preparing to pounce on the hem of his long coat, hissed as the man dissolved into flickering motes of light. After a disappointing attempt to catch one of the fading motes, the cat wandered over to a nearby dumpster in an attempt to find something else to hold his attention.

* * *

To most it was a cult, a group of like-minded crazies who had gathered together. Known either as 'The Silver Path' or 'Illiac Argentum' (much the same meaning in Latin), the core of the group's belief was they were descendants of some ancient race of aliens from the other worlds in the solar system. In the modern world, this belief was not particularly extreme or unusual – many groups believed far wilder things. Few knew, however, just how old the Silver Path was – and even fewer knew that their seemingly insane beliefs were absolutely true – the Path's membership was made up entirely of the incredibly distant descendants of the few survivors of the disaster that had ended the ancient culture they venerate and the reincarnations of people who had lived all that time ago.  
  
The goals of the Silver Path are nothing short of the reestablishment of the Silver Empire, the ancient and mystical civilization that had ruled the solar system tens of thousands of years ago, before the last ice age. To that end, they emulated many aspects of the Silver Empire's culture – their leaders chosen via an autocratic matriarchy, for example, and much of the education of their young given over to eldritch rites of magic that would baffle even the most dedicated so called 'occultist' from the outside world.  
  
In very recent times, the Path's priority had shifted to guarding and ensuring the survival of the would-be rulers of their perfect society, the reincarnated princesses of the nine planets.

* * *

The darkness brightened, and Hiketsu felt rather uncomfortable for a moment, rather like he was falling very fast and being dragged upward violently at the same time. As his vision cleared, he gagged slightly and stumbled forward, away from the stone wall behind him, where a ghostly glowing twin of the sigil in the alley was fading slowly into the blue veined gray surface of the rock. Traveling through the mystical pathways always left him a little unsettled; no matter how many times he did it- lately he had been required to do it a lot, ever since the recent complications had started.  
  
Someone touched his arm, softly. Steadying himself, Hiketsu turned to his right. Green eyes regarded him calmly and coldly behind a pair of elegant, old-fashioned wire-frame spectacles. A slight build rendered shapelessly androgyn beneath thick grey robes, black hair almost completely hidden by the hood. Oniyanagi Fuugetsu, the grey lady.  
  
Hiketsu bowed respectively. "Oniyanagi-sensei."  
  
She nodded in response. "Mitsukai-san. You are late."  
  
She marched off across the huge chamber of arrivals - remarkably fast. Hiketsu had to almost run to keep up. "Gomen nasai, sensei." He sighed. "Tenoroshi-kun took his time in relaying the details of the message."  
  
She kept walking. "Ah, hai. He can be a difficult one."  
  
The pair walked out a tall archway and onto a street of sorts. A large, domed hall, the building they had just exited, was behind them. Variously sized buildings, displaying all the levels of ruin possible, lined the street. They moved uphill, the grey lady leading, Hiketsu remaining a respectful three paces behind her. People walked by them, clad in robes of various colours, decorated in all manner of baroque and eldritch styles. Hiketsu felt quite out of place in his own outfit, a pale cream trench-coat worn over a red shirt and black slacks. He had gotten quite used to wearing so called 'normal clothes' in the last few years, but while growing up, he had been dressed much like those around him.  
  
A bell somewhere tolled out the hour – midnight. Without the bell, Hiketsu would never been able to guess, as the streets and buildings around him were laid out on the floor of a massive cavern, its ceiling lost in darkness overhead, and it was always lit brightly by innumerable mystical orbs hovering fifty meters or so above the cavern floor. The grey lady and Hiketsu were nearing the peak of the hill, and Hiketsu caught sight of the tall, slender towers that rose majestically from each corner of their destination – the palace at the center of the underground city Novus Nectarus – the headquarters of the Silver Path, the secretive group which laboured to keep the memory of the ancient Silver Empire alive.  
  
The pair reached the front gate of the palace. The grey lady nodded at Hiketsu. "I leave you here. Hideto-sama awaits you urgently." That said, she walked off and was lost in the crowd. Hiketsu walked up the marble steps and through the gate, the guards nodding at him as he passed, and he moved through the familiar internal corridors towards the office of the Silver Path supreme leader.

* * *

Hideto's office was set into the base of one of the palace's towers, and had no proper ceiling. Instead the tower rose up above it, rows of windows looking out on Novus Nectarus, accessible via a slender spiral staircase made of silvery metal. The floor of the office was cluttered with various strange artifacts – suits of armor in glass cases, scrolls framed and hung on the walls, a collection of strange weapons, including several swords and a strange glaive with a stylized blade. Near one wall was a massive obsidian desk, it surface littered with crystals of various colours and shapes. Behind the desk in a huge frame was a tattered cloth banner, the sigil used by the silver path prominent in silver thread on the midnight blue cloth, a motto written in the elegant, eldritch script of the Silver Empire beneath it.  
  
Hiketsu had once questioned the grey lady as to the significance of the torn and frayed banner and its place of honour in their leader's office. She had explained that it had been carried by a unit of the Moon's elite silver knights during the final battle of the Silver Millennium... meaning it was over twenty-thousand years old. Hiketsu had often wondered how the path had managed to acquire it.  
  
Sitting behind the desk, framed by the ancient banner, was a very old man. His skin was unbelievably wrinkled seemed to hang loosely on his slender frame. His long, thin hair was silver – literally silver, not gray or white, it shone metallically in the light that filtered through the windows from the cavern outside. As Hiketsu approached the desk, the ancient, withered face cracked into a smile, wrinkling still further. "Ah, Hiketsu-kun." Despite his frail appearance, Hideto's voice was strong.  
  
Hiketsu knelt before the desk, lowering his eyes. "My lord."  
  
Hideto gestured for Hiketsu to stand, which he did. The old man stood himself. "Walk with me, Hiketsu-kun."  
  
Dutifully, Hiketsu followed the old man as he walked up the spiral stairs, heading up the tower. Hiketsu was quite often amazed at Hideto's energy – he hadn't the slightest idea how old the man actually was, but his breathing did not even grow more laboured as he climbed the steep steps. As they climbed, Hideto spoke. "Our seers predict great turmoil ahead."  
  
"I sense it also, my lord. It does not take a seer to do so."  
  
"You refer to the first senshi?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Her behavior is an aberration on the plan, admittedly. Venus was always a wild one." Hideto chuckled softly, as if remembering something amusing.  
  
Hiketsu as always wondered just how much his master knew. "I will take your word for that, lord."  
  
"Of course you will. We will continue to keep tabs on 'Sailor V' and make sure she does not get into any trouble she cannot get out of. However, this is not the turmoil I was referring to."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"The second senshi has awoken, and the enemy will be bringing its full strength to bear upon her. Sailor V cannot be trusted to provide help to her at this time."  
  
Hiketsu wondered what Hideto was getting at. For the past year and more, he had been tasked with keeping tabs on Sailor V, and had watched, despairingly, as her behavior became more and more erratic. She only rarely managed to target a real agent of their enemy, and more often focused her aggression on more mundane criminals. She had also been accepting payment for her actions. Hiketsu had long ago begun to wonder whether the girl Aino Minako was suitable for the powers she had developed...  
  
"Other servants of the Silver Path will take over your duties with the first senshi. We are predicting the appearance of at least three new senshi in as many months – one has already been reported. Your new duty will be to observe them and keep tabs on their actions, and report all you see to us."  
  
The pair reached the top of the tower, a small chamber with windows on all sides. Hideto stood and gazed out across Novus Nectarus. Hiketsu stood beside him. "Hai, my lord. I will do as you command."  
  
"Excellent. The first senshi's mortal name is Mizuno Ami. She is a resident of the Juuban district of Tokyo. Begin your new task immediately, and bring honour to the path, Hiketsu-kun."  
  
"Hai, my lord. Thank you, my lord." Hiketsu bowed low.  
  
"You are dismissed. Get some rest, and take a Gate to Tokyo tomorrow." Hideto gazed out over the city, his eyes far away. From above, Novus Nectarus was beautiful, even with the many buildings that had yet to be restored. The buildings were constructed according to no existing architectural style, and yet seemed to contain the best elements of them all. Gothic arches, beautifully carved columns, soaring minarets and shining onion domes – all put together smoothly and beautifully. A beauty since long lost to the world, slowly being recovered by the Silver Path.  
  
Hiketsu bowed again, and walked back down the stairs, leaving the commander gazing over his city, his thoughts a mystery.

* * *

_The surface of the roof was stained dark by the heavy rain. Two figures faced off on the slippery concrete – one, a young girl wearing what appeared to be a Japanese school uniform, altered to be slightly more revealing and a red ballroom mask. The other was a tall man his hair so blonde as to be almost white, with a long cruel face and wearing a deep purple uniform of some kind, complete with jeweled shoulder-guards and a red half-cloak. After many months of cat and mouse, Sailor V was confronting the leader of her enemies at last – Quartzite, the head of the Darke Corporation.  
  
V had a couple of bruises from attacks Quartzite had unleashed upon her, and Quartzite's once pristine uniform was burnt in several places from her attacks. V had been fighting Quartzite's minions for a long time, and had finally narrowed down the source of the attacks on the citizens of London to the Darke Corporation. She had raided their headquarters, destroying many youma in the process, and finally cornered their leader on the rooftop of the building where the corporation had its offices.  
  
Quartzite charged Sailor V, sickly violet flame enveloping his fists as he attempted to strike her. V dodged, and launched a beam of brilliant golden light at his back, burning yet another hole in his uniform. Turning swiftly, he caught V with a backhand blow across the midsection, the violet flame painfully cold against her exposed back, the water soaking her uniform freezing at its touch. She gasped in pain, and dropped down, attempting to sweep the man off his feet, but he leapt back to the other side of the roof. The fight had been going on like this for what seemed like forever (it had in fact been just under half an hour), the pair exchanging meaningless blows, then parting to prepare their next attack.  
  
V was beginning to tire, but she concentrated hard on not letting it show. Quartzite himself was breathing heavily. Perhaps it was her fatigue, but for whatever reason, V did not notice the man's hand slide inside his uniform jacket as he charged her again. He attempted to hit her with his free hand, and received a kick to his hips in exchange. Then… things went bad.  
  
The pain was excruciating, and Sailor V cried out. Looking to her shoulder, she saw a splinter of dark grey stone was embedded in it, penetrating her flesh, a slow trickle of bright red blood flowing from the wound. Quartzite had stabbed her with the crystal, which he had evidently been concealing in his uniform this whole time. Even as she tried to jump away from the man, she felt her strength leave her as the crystal sapped her strength, a dull ache settling over her body, her knees buckling.  
  
Smiling triumphantly, Quartzite watched his crystal do its work, watched Sailor V fall to her knees. Her clothes began to blur, slightly, as even the power which allowed her maintain her status as Sailor V was drained. Reaching out, he grasped the girl's throat and squeezed, tightly, lifting her up off the rooftop. He spoke the first words he had spoken since the fight begun, his voice deep and as cold as the violet flame that was his preferred attack. "You long ago ceased to amuse, Sailor V. Surely you didn't think I was as weak as my servants."  
  
V choked, attempted to speak, but couldn't. Quartzite squeezed harder, felt the girl's throat buckle beneath his hand. "Now, foolish one, you will pay the price for your malfeasance." Raising his free hand, Quartzite prepared to deal the killing blow… but was interrupted as, at that moment on the far side of the roof all hell broke loose.  
  
The raised structure that marked the only entrance and exit from the roof of the building warped, the concrete flowing like gelatin into strange new shapes. A sphere of shimmering, deep black energy engulfed it… as the sphere faded, the concrete crumbled, unable to maintain stability in the new shapes it found itself in, disintegrating into clouds of dust as the staircase inside collapsed with a tremendous rending sound.  
  
Quartzite stared at this strange phenomenon, aghast.  
  
Stared a moment too long.  
  
The attack happened so fast, Quartzite didn't even feel pain. A blurred, dark shape rushed by him and Sailor V dropped to the damp concrete of the rooftop, gasping. Quartzite's hand still grasped her throat, but the grip had weakened, the fingers twitching only slightly. It took V only slightly more time then Quartzite to realize what had happened – the offending arm had been severed neatly at the elbow.  
  
Quartzite howled in rage, clutching the stump of his arm, and turned to face the new assailant. He took in dark, segmented metal armor over a deep grey padded costume. A long black cloak that reached almost to the heel of booted feet. A pale, expressionless face framed by long, dark green hair, the upper half hidden behind an elaborate black mask in a style vaguely similar to Sailor V's own. A pair of cold crimson eyes and, most notably (to Quartzite anyway), a bloodstained, curved sword.  
  
Quartzite released a tremendous burst of violet flame at this interloper, which the cloaked man dodged. Behind Quartzite, V had managed to pull the crystal from her shoulder, and felt her strength returning. Some would say Sailor V was scatterbrained, perhaps even vapid. Still, she wasn't so foolish as to waste this opportunity. Channeling as much of her power as she could manage, her own fear and anger at the man who had nearly killed her fueling the attack, she unleashed it at Quartzite's back, an incredibly bright column of golden energy that knocked the man almost all the way across the roof where he impacted hard against the edge, the beam piercing his uniform, his flesh, emerging out the other side.  
  
Quartzite stood, shakily, the eyes of V and her dark-cloaked savior both on him. A horrific wound gaped in his midsection, a hole blasted all the way through his torso, the flesh charred at its edge. Unlike the stump of his severed arm, the wound in his stomach did not bleed – but unlike the arm, it was clearly fatal. Gasping, he climbed up onto the edge of the roof and said, as loudly as he could in his horrendously injured state. "Such fools."  
  
With that said, he jumped, and fell.  
  
Both Sailor V and the black-cloaked man walked to the edge of the roof and looked down. V quickly looked away. Quartzite had fallen all the way down, and he was extremely dead.  
  
The black cloaked man put his hand on Sailor V's uninjured shoulder, leaning down to examine the injured one carefully. "Are you hurt?"  
  
"Not badly." V breathed. "The wound isn't deep… it'll probably leave a scar, though. I guess I'll never be perfect again." She smiled at the black cloaked man. He did not smile back. "Hades... you came for me again. Thank you."  
  
The black cloaked man the Knight of Hades, bowed. "It is what I am for, princess." A simple answer, yet filled with meaning, and only deepening the mystery for Sailor V.  
  
Impulsively, V reached out and attempted to snatch Hades' mask off his face. His hand rose swiftly, gripping her wrist and stopping her. Smoothly, she leaned in and kissed him hard, on the lips..._  
  
Hiketsu awoke with a start. Looking around, he saw that he was in his rather Spartan quarters in the palace of Novus Nectarus. It had been a long time since he had slept there. He had dreamt about Sailor V again, about the second time he had been forced to intervene on her behalf. Rising from the narrow bed, he found his clothes – laundered, he noted, and neatly folded. Being the chosen champion of the nobility did have its advantages – and dressed.  
  
Outside, he heard the city clock chime six o clock – that meant it was already mid-afternoon in Tokyo. Hustling through the labyrinthine corridors of the palace and out onto the streets, stopping only to buy a pastry and a cup of tea from a street vendor, he hurried to the Gate nexus, ready to start his new assignment.

* * *


	3. Spirit! Tsumetai Hana wo Sakaseru

_**Disclaimer**: This is a work of Fanfiction. SailorMoon is copyrighted to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, Toei Douga and various other subsidaries. Although the Authors hold no claim to SailorMoon itself, all attempts to plagerise the following story will result in mysterious and painful consequences._

__

* * *

"Jadeite, when will we see the results of your latest efforts?"  
  
The Queen stretched her fingers, idly stroking a smoky crystal ball with one languid claw. Jadeite followed her movements in rapt fascination, almost, it seems, hypnotised.  
  
"You have also yet to discover the whereabouts of the _Ginzuishou_."  
  
Her hair, the ominous red of a smothering flame, flowed enchantingly about her bare shoulders.  
  
Jadeite bowed deeply. "Do not worry, my Queen," He replied, pointedly ignoring the soft snickers in the shadows behind him.  
  
"But you've made your soldiers out of mud, Jadeite. They are weak and fall apart easily."  
  
"I have a plan," Jadeite responded hotly, gritting his teeth, "And it will not fail." His fists clenched close, but remained by his side. He was not about to start a fight in front of his Queen.  
  
Nephrite, lounging against a pillar, merely smiled. 

__

* * *

"It is your sacred duty!"  
  
Mizuno Ami wanted very much to sigh, but that would have been impolite. Developing a secret identity was throwing a serious monkey wench into her life.  
  
She had no time for any of this. Her days were packed, kept in a neat order to maximize her time, every aspect of her days, study and life, planned immaculately by Ami herself. She had barely two years to study for the national exams that would put her in a distinguished High School and could not afford to spend time wandering about the city seeking her "companions", as Luna puts it.  
  
Ami had plans. She was going to become a doctor and help save the world.  
  
"Ami-chan...?"  
  
She also wasn't sure if she liked that 

__

* * *

_"Kokoro de koe wo kiku kara me wo tojite hanarete mo anata dake wakaru."  
"I hear your voice in my spirit and so when I close my eyes, even though we're far apart, you're the only one who understands"_

-- Mizuno Ami, Mi Amor

  
  
**SailorMoon RR: Spirit! Tsumetai Hana wo Sakaseru  
Spirit! Make the Cold Flower Bloom**

****

****

  


* * *

"What _is_ the Shiroishi doing?" The petite woman sighed. She was smallish, at five foot two inches, made to appear even smaller in her heavy grey robes.  
  
"I'm afraid we haven't heard from him at all, sensai."  
  
"Sen_sei_." She corrected absently, inspecting the activity log from said entity's tracking device. Each of the Messengers, Black and White, had one. They were implanted in their ears by the Path while they were still in their long hibernation.  
  
At first there had been some concern as to whether or not the pair will find out about the bugs and thus the Organization. But as time wore on, it became apparent that the cats were not about to question anything regarding the great computer monitor they referred to as "Shirei", or Commander, and the issue was dropped.  
  
This, in Oniyanagi's mind, was a sure sign that the Kuroishi and the Shiroishi were not as intelligent as most believed them to be.  
  
"It doesn't seem like they intend to return to Japan any time soon, ma'am..." The young woman whose job was to track V and her familiar's whereabouts day to day raised timidly.  
  
The Grey Lady nodded, sighed again, turning to address the officers. "As you know, Kino from House Jupiter, or the Knight Zeus, if you prefer, has been reassigned to watch V."  
  
A collective groan rose quietly and was quickly stifled in deference to the speaker.  
  
"I know." Oniyanagi continued, trying to sound comforting. "The good news is some of you will be reassigned to watch the new girl, Sailor Mercury." She paused, letting this information be absorbed before unveiling the finale, "Along with Mitsukai-san."  
  
One of the girls blushed the bright red of strawberries. Oniyanagi hid a small smile, and proceeded to read off a new list.

__

* * *

There were strict rules in her apartment building regarding the presence of animals, talking or not. It came on a little metal plaque at the building entrance, printed in bold, black kanji, "NO PETS ALLOWED". This was fairly common in Tokyo city, especially when many apartment owners tend to fall in the category of those who only return home every other night. It did not, however, help that Mizuno's personal Super-Hero Trainer was a cat.  
  
Sooner or later, someone was going to notice the black-furred creature popping in and out of their windows and inform the management. It was a good thing that Ami's parents, when they did come home, have not noticed. Mizuno Ami did not live alone, but it seemed often to her that she did. She had gotten up especially early today, for example, to catch her mother before Doctor Mizuno left for work; only to discover that she had not bothered to come home at all, again.  
  
Sometimes, Ami wanted to be the selfish spoilt kid her parents often praised and thanked her for not being. The Mizunos were a happy, perfect family, rich and respectable, professionally reputable and graciously upper-class, with an ingenious child anyone would have killed to produce; something which Ami had decided was a new kind of dysfunction.  
  
"Ne, Ami-chan, do you know where the Crown Game Centre is?"  
  
Mizuno nodded. It was near the Crystal Seminar centre, where she took extra classes every day of the week: two in Advanced Mathematics, two in High School English and on Fridays, Computer Science.  
  
"There's something there I'd like to show you."  
  
And so it became, that Mizuno Ami, who has never set foot in any sort of entertainment facility such as a Game Centre in her teenaged life, sat down at the Sailor V game in Crown and broke the high score in her first twenty minutes.  
  
A crowd had gathered around her while she was not looking, pointing and murmuring in awe.  
"Wow, look at her go!"  
"Which school is she from?"  
"Hey, Naru, isn't that that girl... Suino-san? The one who's on the Crystal Seminar flyers...?"  
"That's read as 'Mizuno', Usagi."  
"Wow! Is this your first time?"  
The last came as an unexpected shock when the girl slapped a friendly hand on Mizuno's back. Mizuno shied from the familiarity and allowed it to be an excuse to drop V-chan into a ravine, ending the game.  
  
Such cries of disappointment! You would have thought her audience was playing the game, not her.  
  
"Now look what you've done, Usagi-baka! She was about to beat the level!"  
  
Ami grabbed her bag and tried to slip away in the commotion. The attention was flattering, but made her uncomfortable, being, as she was, far more used to her peers being glad when she failed.  
  
"Ano... Mizuno-san!" The girl was calling after her. "Your High Score..."  
  
"Gomen nasai! I'm late for class!" She replied hastily, fumbling her way back out into the light of day.  
  
"Ami-chan!"  
  
She ignored Luna too, and stumbled on to the first bus she saw at the bus-stop.  
  


__

* * *

The elegant girl in the olive and charcoal TA Private School uniform was Hino Rei, the prodigy of Hikawa Jinja, near the Sendai Hill district. She went everywhere alone because she thought tolerating company would make her seem approachable, which she wasn't. She held herself aloof, as though she thought she was better than anyone else, because she did.  
  
She made no secret of these thoughts, and yet, nobody could ever call her names. She was too beautiful and too dignified; intimidating so. It just wouldn't be appropriate. Besides, she was a real witch.  
  
Mizuno often saw Hino Rei on her way to class. The young Shinto priestess awed her. Mizuno has never spoken to her, but it was apparent to her that Hino was someone she could readily respect in all areas. An intellectual light crowned her noble brow and her eyes were old, too old for a fourteen year old. It was, in fact, one of Mizuno's aspirations to qualify for TA High School the spring after next and learn to call Hino by name.  
  
She did not know if they could be friends, but she knew without a doubt that they would be able to share an understanding. This, Mizuno felt, was worth far more than "hours spent together in an arcade", as most people have decided to quantify their friendships by, lately.  
  
It would be interesting to her that Hino held the same thoughts about a quiet bob-haired girl _she_ has often seen on the bus to Sendai who seemed far too clever to belong in a public school and took classes at the Crystal Seminar Centre every evening of the school week.  
  
But neither were particularly big on approaching the other just yet.  
  


__

* * *

"We can't possibly rent to you, Mitsukai-san." The rental agent looked over the rather thick bundle of paper in front of him. "You have over seventy violations of the tenancy agreement act on record, many of them involving massive property damage."  
  
"I see. I guess I will try somewhere else, then." Hiketsu sighed.  
  
"Well, I certainly hope no one is foolish enough to rent to you, personally." The agent rolled his eyes. "I mean, keeping livestock in an urban apartment."  
  
"Hai... well, that may have shown poor judgment. Thank you."  
  
The first day back in Tokyo after his long absence Mitsukai Hiketsu checked out the errata of Mizuno Ami's life – performing a quick patrol of the upscale apartment building where she and her parents lived, confirming the apartment number, having a look at her route to school (the same route every day, and always at the same time like clockwork) and her social activities (of which there were very few).  
  
On the second day, Hiketsu had begun to search for a place to live. He had found no one in the apartment rental business seemed to have any time for him, and he had myriad doors slammed in his face, with terse, barely polite assertions that they had no room and he should leave immediately.  
  
On the _third_ day, Hiketsu had finally managed to get an agent to talk to him, only to discover that he had apparently been living in Tokyo for the past year and committing all manner of crimes against nature, the gods, and most notably the tenancy authorities of Tokyo. This aroused in Hiketsu a sneaking suspicion, which he decided to confirm.  
  
"By any chance can I have my photo back then from the tenant profile?"  
  
"Certainly. I just have to find it in my predecessors' records... had a nervous breakdown, poor man." The agent rifled around in the many filing cabinets behind his desk, and eventually produced a thick folder, and pulled a small passport sized photo from it.  
  
Snatching the photo from the agents' hand, Hiketsu looked at it. A huge grin and spiky red hair greeted him. "Ah, that's what I thought."  
  
With that, Hiketsu left the office, still staring at the photo. Tenoroshi. Tenoroshi had been using his name. Had been using his name when he decided to start a goose farm in his den... when he had decided that the floor was for losers and started walking on the ceilings, using ice-climbing spikes long enough to penetrate to the floor above. When Tenoroshi had decided that only a peasant lived his life in silence, and had installed a ridiculously powered sound system in the apartment which he played twenty-fours a day, seven days a week, at full volume, the record on his tenancy registration had stated his name as 'Mitsukai Hiketsu'.  
  
None of this really surprised Hiketsu, who knew Kino Tenoroshi of old – still, it did raise a number of very difficult conundrums, the most prominent of which in Hiketsu's mind was; how shall Tenoroshi be punished?  
  
The second most prominent, of course, was where in all of heaven and earth was he going to live?  
  


__

* * *

It was something about the girl's aura that had first caught Rei's attention, about a year ago. She was a crystalline ice-water blue, a curious and subtle shade that came with its own inner glow.  
  
That in itself did not pique Rei's interest. It was the way in which Rei seemed unable to be unaware of her when she was nearby that did it. And because she could never figure out why, and because the girl did not seem to be malevolent or a danger to anyone, this irked Rei, who in silent retaliation, took extra care to ignore her.  
  
Which was why she was especially annoyed when she sensed the astral distortions only after the bus had started to move off.  
  


"Ami-chan!" Luna shouted from Mizuno's bag as she got off the bus. Several people turned to look, but since they could not identify anyone who looked as though they might be this "Ami" girl, nothing came of it.  
  
Mizuno ducked through the crowds, heading toward Crystal Seminar in a brisk walk. "I'm sorry, but I'm already late for class..." She whispered, feeling rather self-conscious and exposed about having to talk to a talking black cat currently hanging out of her school bag, in the middle of a crowded sidewalk.  
  
Luna did not seem to have as much qualms about this as she. Or perhaps she'd just conveniently forgotten. As far as Mizuno could tell, Luna looked to be about a year old, which in human years would make her barely a teenager herself, around six- or seventeen.  
  
"But Ami-chan, haven't you been listening to what I've said? You are a sailor senshi now. You have to find and awaken your fellow warriors..."  
  
"And the princess, and defend the world against the enemy." _Whoever that is_, She almost added.  
  
_"Luna-san,"_ Ami prepared the speech in her mind. _"I am aware that there is a great, new responsibility that I have to take on. But I cannot allow it to disrupt my normal life. I am SailorMercury, but I am also Mizuno Ami, a fourteen year old Secondary School student from Juuban Secondary School, trying to get into a good High School."_  
  
She paused, suddenly appalled at her own rudeness.  
  
"I'm sorry, Luna..." She said instead, ducking into a narrow alley. It was hard for her to think of Luna as a cat, which she was quite fond of, despite the physical evidence. It had much to do with the fact that she chose to follow Mizuno around, trying to disrupt her life, rather than being a typical short-furred domestic feline.  
  
Luna made a small, worried sound. "Ami..."  
  
_"Mou, daijoubu ne..."_ She smiled apologetically. "I... I don't know what came over me... This... is difficult for me, Luna... things are changing, I am changing, but I don't understand any of it, even though I keep feeling that I should... I'm sorry... I will be less selfish from now on."  
  
She looked so sad that Luna herself felt like crying. But she didn't. She had a mission to fulfil, herself, and could not afford to give in to personal weakness. She had to gather and lead the Sailor senshi until such time as they awaken, themselves, and find the Princess. Details, such as the imperfect memories she was working with, were unimportant. The cat leaped daintily onto Ami's shoulders and licked the troubled girl's temple delicately.  
  
"I'm sorry too, Ami-chan... Don't worry, you will remember soon."  
  


__

* * *

Rei dashed through the sidewalk traffic, hanging on fiercely to the fading sense of wrongness that tickled the back of her throat and made her just the slightest bit nauseous, but it was quickly losing definition in the static of the city. She made a frustrated sound, the beginnings of an expletive, as it left her stranded in the listless crowd on a road junction.  
  
Lately, it seemed that her psychic senses were becoming erratic, failing often and becoming hard to focus. It was not uncommon, in all honestly, for a child to loose their special perceptions as they grow into adulthood and hit puberty. That Rei was fourteen and still a powerful clairvoyant was in itself a rare sign, although a sign of what, she did not know. Was she finally beginning to lose her powers? More importantly, how did she feel about that?  
  
Single-minded rage kept her searching for a good hour after that, but the only thing out of place to her was seeing Mizuno Ami, that Juuban girl, head towards her tuition centre, then get on a bus across the street instead of going in. And really, what was so unusual about a Secondary School student skipping an extra class...?  
  


__

* * *

Hiketsu had been wandering the streets of Tokyo, gloomily pondering his future, when he felt the first hints of an evil presence. It was subtle a first, like a cold wind across his skin, raising goose bumps even through his heavy coat. It was not a particularly cold day, and the feeling was familiar to Hiketsu – he had felt it all the time in London – negative energy.  
  
Not paying the slightest attention to how much his action annoyed people on the sidewalk around him, Hiketsu stepped backwards to the spot where he had first felt the feeling. It came again. Stepping carefully in every direction, he singled out the one where the sensation of cold got stronger, and began to walk that way. To an observer, it would appear that Hiketsu had, for no apparent reason, decided to do a brief improvisational dance in the middle of the crowded pavement. Odd, but not suspicious – and the Silver Path agent dared not use any of more effective but much more obvious detection magic in public.  
  
Continuing in the direction the negative energy was apparently emanating from, the chill over Hiketsu's skin settled into his muscles a quite uncomfortable feeling. He was definitely going the right way. Not really looking where he was heading, concentrating on the phantom feeling of cold, Hiketsu nearly tripped over some stairs. Looking around, he found himself at the bottom a long flight of steps, beside which as sign announced as the entrance to the hikawa shrine.  
  
Whatever was wrong, it was at the top of the steps. Hiketsu climbed them, looking around – there were quite a few people around; a lot of middle-school kids in particular. Most of them were admiring fairly cheaply made baubles and discussing them. The words 'good luck charm' were mentioned frequently. This raised a flag in Hiketsu's mind – he had dealt with a few plots in England meant apparently to harvest human 'energy' for some unknown purpose, many of which had involved small trinkets such as these.  
  
Attempting to act as casual as he could, Hiketsu approached a pair of girls as they appeared at the top of the long staircase. "Ano..."  
  
The girls stopped on the stairs, and giggled. "Hai?"  
  
Hiketsu tried his most charming smile. It seemed to work, the girls giggled more. One of them blushed. Strangely, Hiketsu was completely unaware as to why this may be; he had, despite having fought very real and vicious monsters in his twenty years, lived a sheltered life in the Silver Path. "What do you have there? May I see it?" Hiketsu nodded towards the little charm one of the girls was holding.  
  
"Sure... it's just something I bought up at the shrine." The girl held it up for Hiketsu's inspection.  
  
Keeping his smile in place, Hiketsu gestured for the girl to hand the charm to him, and she complied. After a couple of seconds in his hand, the charm burst into spectacularly into blue flame and vanished in a cloud of vapor, emitting a small, rather pathetic 'pop'.  
  
Hiketsu stared at his now empty hand, which was still smoking. The girls stared as well. Hiketsu chuckled nervously– it was his turn to blush. "Oops! Sorry, don't know my own... um... yeah.... Wow, um... these things are pretty dangerous! Who sold it to you?"  
  
The two girls continued to stare for a moment, until one gathered herself enough to speak. "Some blonde guy, I think he works at the shrine. What just happened?"  
  
"Oh. Nothing, don't worry yourself about it Just shoddy merchandise, spontaneously combusting and all. I'll go have a word with this blonde guy, he shouldn't be selling stuff like that to kids. Excuse me."  
  
Hiketsu, still bowing and apologizing to the stunned girls, completed climbing the stairs and passed through the gate into the shrine proper. The charm's destruction confirmed all his suspicions – like most Silver Path agents of any level of power, he had been trained to resist negative energy attacks from an early age (from what he had seen, the senshi did the same thing, instinctively). Something dark was happening at the Hikawa shrine.  
  
Making his way through the rather sizable crowd of visitors – a large proportion of whom where touting so called 'good luck charms', to Hiketsu's distress – Hiketsu finally spotted the blonde man, wearing a plain, work-quality white robe and leaning on a broom, chatting to a crowd of schoolgirls.  
  
Hiketsu approached him cautiously, and just as he was getting close enough to hear what the man was saying, he was interrupted by a shout.  
  
"Hey, you!"  
  
A large proportion of the crowd turned to face the man who had shouted – he was quite old, and short, and also in traditional Shinto-wear. "Not you guys, the pretty one!"  
  
Most of the people who had looked at the old man turned away, some grumbling. Hiketsu was amongst them. A few girls raised their hands cautiously, wondering if they were 'the pretty one'.  
  
"Not you, kids, the tall pretty one, with the long hair. Come here, boy! Let me get a good look at you."  
  
Hiketsu turned to face the old man as he ran up, coming to stand rather uncomfortably close. To Hiketsu's shock and confusion, the man reached up (he really did have to reach, he was quite short indeed) and began to run his hands along Hiketsu's arm. "Hmmm... a little scrawny, but you have potential. What brings you to Hikawa?"  
  
"Ummm... just passing by." Hiketsu snatched his arm back from the man.  
  
Undaunted, the old man turned his attention to Hiketsu's thigh, nearly knocking him over in the process. "How'd you like to work here?"  
  
"No, I don't think so."  
  
"You'd get free room and board."  
  
"... honto?"  
  
Fate works in unfathomable and complex ways. Not even a quarter of an hour later, Hiketsu found himself wearing robes like the blonde man, broom in hand, sweeping the steps of the shrine. One problem had been solved – Hiketsu had found a place to stay. Now if only he could figure out what was going on with his blonde co-worker, whom the old man had informed him, was called Jed.  
  
Presently, a beautiful girl came to stand some six steps below him, wearing a stony, disdainful expression against a smothering red horizon, harsh, but beautiful, nonetheless. Hiketsu started to stare, then, remembering his new position, stood to attention.  
  
"And who are _you_ supposed to be?" She spoke flatly, a guess already forming in her tone. She held her chin high and shoulders back, in a stiff posture befitting of a Queen, with the air of one who did so naturally, and rightfully.  
  
Hiketsu bowed deeply, daring to add a little flourish at the end. "Mitsukai Hiketsu desu... Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. The uhm... old man" – he hesitated to call him a Priest of the shrine – "... hired me this afternoon."  
  
The girl looked away with a stifled sigh of exasperation and started walking towards the interior of the shrine. "Dinner is at eight. You'd better get a start on that."  
  
Hiketsu watched the girl go. As arrogant as she was beautiful, with hair as black as night and eyes violet like a stormy sky. Two crows cawed noisily, following the girl – albeit in a round-about fashion, stopping frequently to peck at likely bits of litter and threaten passers-by with their unnerving call. There was something very familiar about all this, just beyond the edge of his conscious mind. Something really rather important, if only he could remember...  
  
Or maybe it had just been her skirt. Private schools tended to be a bit risqué in hem lengths, he'd noticed.  
  
In any case, there was no use thinking about it right now – evidently, he was to prepare dinner. He wondered how he would go about explaining to the girl that he had never cooked in his life.  
  


__

* * *

Rei was having a bad day. She could not tell if the dull, sickly feeling that seems to have settled permanently in the back of her throat and led down to the pit of her stomach was her premonition or last night's dinner. The two boys, Jedo whatever-his-last-name-is and Mitsukai rotated their culinary chores by meal, but it did not make much of a difference to her. _Baka oya..._ She needed to have a talk with him regarding his habit of picking up strays, especially strays who can't cook. They were going to have take-out for dinner, even if she was going to have to go get it herself.  
  
The whispers came to her, parents and friends discussing the recent disappearances on the Sendai Hill District bus route that runs in front of the shrine. Ten children have disappeared from the Ichinohashi district, allegedly here, on Sendai Hill. Rei shut the voices out. No doubt they would come to her soon, once they have banded together and gotten their courage up, and either demand she do something or stop kidnapping their children. How very ignorant and typical. Unable to bully the police and other real-life authorities, these people have always turned to easier targets like little teenaged girls with powers they only half-believed in.  
  
She did not see Mizuno Ami climb up the steps, but the moment the girl crossed the torii into the shrine grounds, she knew. She was surprised, however, when instead of joining the lines for lucky charms or prayers like the other school girls, she approached Rei directly instead.  
  
"Ano... Hino-sama, I'm so sorry to disturb you."  
  
She bowed deeply, as though Rei was a Goddess at an altar and not just someone sweeping up the yard with her sleeves tied crudely out of the way. "My name is Mizuno Ami. Please forgive my sudden brashness in introducing myself. I am in need of your help."  
  
Rei regarded her curiously. Mizuno was like an annoying point of light, always flickering in the far corners of her eyes. Lately, it seems that the light had become steadier, harder to ignore. Lately, like her faltering powers... Rei paused.  
  
Hikawa had always been the place where insight came to her the strongest, the place of least disturbance. But now, as she concentrated and looked with her soul, trying to read Mizuno, she realised that the shrine too, with its sanctified grounds, had become permeated with the same negativity that clouded the city around them. This, she was certain, happened "lately".  
  
"Lately, I have discovered something extraordinary about myself, although this might not sound as unusual to you as it did to me..."  
  
Lately, _saikin_, Rei had felt largely restless, a feeling that seethed in the depths of her chest, unidentified, almost, at times, suffocating. A certain frustration she could not name. It gnawed away at her.  
  
"I am becoming..."  
  
It stirred a fire within her.  
  
"... myself..."  
  
Harsh, broken caws echoed in her ears.  
  
"From a past..."  
  
Two soot-black birds plummeted from the sky, launching an interruptive assault on the blue-haired girl. Ami squeaked, shrinking away, and raised her arms protectively against her face. The Priestess had felt it too, a sudden pulse in the atmosphere that surged and died quickly, sending ripples to her centre, the aftermath sickening her.  
  
"Phobus! Deimos!"  
  
She called sharply. The large, menacing birds responded immediately by withdrawing and settling on their master, one on each shoulder.  
  
"Mizuno-san," Rei regarded her levelly. Her knuckles clutched the broom tightly, paling, but steady. It was only for a moment, but she sensed it that time, the corresponding flare of Mizuno's aura, in time with the feeling of wrongness. "Mizuno-san, I'm sorry but I cannot help you with your troubles. Please leave."  
  
The girl was a good actress, to look so convincingly confused. Or perhaps, had she expected Rei to be so easily hypnotised like just anyone on the street? Unless, she had truly believed that Hino Rei would not reject her dark offer... The last was a slap in the face. It was beyond a doubt that she was uncanny, this she would freely admit, even revel in from time to time; but she was not without honour. Hino Rei, though icy, made even more ominous by her strange connection with crows, was not, in her heart, Evil.  
  
Mizuno bowed deeply. "_Wakarimashitta._" She recomposed herself to smile. "Please accept my deepest apologies for disturbing you."  
  
The one thing that Rei did not understand as Mizuno left, was why Phobos and Deimos had only attacked her with their _wings_, and why she had not fought back.  
  


__

* * *

Hiketsu stood over the fallen form of his senior colleague, still holding his broken broom. He blinked blankly at the circle of stunned teenaged faces surrounding them.  
  
"Ano... that was quite a slip, wasn't it?" He finally managed with an embarrassed laugh. He kicked the pretty blonde man's prone side surreptitiously several times for good measure. For a moment, it looked as though no-one was going to believe him, but then he put on his best "victim of circumstance" look and someone ran to fetch Rei.  
  


_

* * *

How long had he slept awaiting the summons of his Master?  
  
"Jadeite... Jadeite." The voice... he can no longer remember the voice of his Master, or anything about that voice, if it were male or female, high or low. Sometimes, he barely remembered his name.  
  
"Jadeite... my lovely servant... awake for me, my adorable one." That voice... The guiding voice... He never doubted for a moment what he was intended for, what he was put upon this world to do. To serve that person, that most important someone who was, and will become again, his Master. To serve the voice that calls to him. That was his life's purpose.  
  
"Jadeite, you will not fail me, will you?"  
  
"Of course not, Queen Beryl-sama..."_  
  
Jed, or more accurately, Jadeite, woke.  
  
He was lying in a small tatami-floored room with a damp towel over his brow, gazing blankly at the rafted ceiling, disorientated. What happened? He was dealing with some girls who wanted to know more about how the charms worked as an excuse to talk to him, that much he remembered. He also remembered making sure that the Priestess, Hino Rei, was preoccupied before beginning to drain the energy from the hopeful patrons. He had the corner of his eye on her the whole time, so it couldn't have been her. The old man, he had decided, was nothing more than an ancient, senile lecher. So, what happened?  
  
The shouji doors slid open and shut.  
  
"Ah, Jed-kun, you're awake." A tiny, withered face appeared in his view. "You recovered fairly quickly. It's good to be young!" He smiled.  
  
Mitsukai Hiketsu. The new guy, of course.  
  


__

* * *

Just outside the shrine, Hiketsu sneezed. Someone must have been talking about him somewhere. _Tenoroshi_, He assumed immediately, _Goddamned Tenoroshi_, and thought no more of it.  
  
Other things needed to occupy his mind, such as what Mizuno Ami, Sailor Mercury, would want with Hino Rei, and why Hino-san had thrown the little warrior out. It could have been completely unrelated, a possibility that Hiketsu highly doubted.  
  
He reconsidered Hino as he crossed the street. The Sailor Senshi's mission, as they understood it, was to seek out and protect their Princess, the reincarnation of the Heir to the sovereignty of the Silver Empire. It would not be entirely inconceivable to say that beautiful, regal Rei was her majesty - the air and carriage of royalty came naturally to her, and just as naturally, her supernatural powers.  
  
On the other hand, the Kuroishi's mission to seek out and gather the four Guardians and learn of the nature of the rising threat against them could just as easily become the senshi's own mission by extension. Did they suspect her of being foe or friend? He was no longer surprised by the coincidences that always seem to place him right next to the action. The Leaders of the Path call it the Destiny Factor; narrative imperatives in the story told by Fate and Destiny, as his mentor explained to him once.  
  
_"But that does not explain the how and the why, sensei!" His youthful self protested.  
  
"If you understood this you would become a liability, Mitsukai-kun." The Grey Lady smiled kindly at him. Those days, he had to look up to see her face._  
  
The Path played an obscure game with Fate and Destiny that only Grand Master Hideto seemed to understand, the thought of which prickled him with guilt. He should have reported in before. They needed to know of Sailor Mercury's activities.  
  
"Ne, have you heard? Mii-chan's gone missing... Look out! It's the evil six o'clock bus to hell!"  
  
"She takes the bus from this stop too, doesn't she?"  
  
"No way! That's so creepy! Do you think it might be a curse?"  
  
"Are you sure? Maybe she's just eloped with that cute bus driver she keeps talking about..."  
  
"Excuse me," Hiketsu came up beside a group of girls engaged in a highly animated conversation. On the other side of their little circle, the Kuroishi stiffened as he approached and darted behind Mizuno. The beloved child of Mercury regarded him suspiciously, something he rather wished she would not do. "Could you tell me which bus goes to Juubankai?"  
  
The girl he was addressing giggled giddily, so excited to be approached that she appeared to have lost all higher brain functions. Her friends don't seem to be faring much better.  
  
"You'll have to cross the street again." Mizuno interjected politely, sounding apologetic. "It's in the other direction."  
  
"Sou da ne..." Hiketsu gave her an embarrassed smile. Ami blushed and groped for something to say to bridge the silence.  
  
"Are you... going home?" A giddy school girl finally recovered enough to ask, before bursting into another series of breathless giggles.  
  
"No, I get room and board at the shrine. Hino-san wanted take-out from a restaurant on Juubankai for dinner, that's all."  
  
Ami nodded dumbly, although she wasn't sure why she felt he was addressing her as well. The young man looked harmless enough despite his unkempt, stubbly appearance and hip-length hair.  
  
"Are you a friend of Hino-san?" He turned to Ami.  
  
"N... no, sorry..." She stammered, caught off guard.  
  
"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to trouble you. It's just that I saw you talking to her and you look about the same age, so I thought..." He floundered, wondering how to get out of this awkward situation.  
  
"No, I just wanted to ask her something." Ami replied, settling on staring at her hands instead of him.  
  
"I... suppose I'd better get going..."  
  
Hiketsu excused himself and ran back across the street, glad that nobody he knew was around to witness his social ineptness and breach of protocol. Ami watched him get on a bus. She was a little worried about the giggling girls getting hyperventilated, but only a little. She was more concerned with Hiketsu. Something about him filled her with a sense of unease after his presence was gone. A hint of something secretive and slightly... feral.  
  
"Ami-chan, this is the one..." Luna whispered, nuzzling up to her cheek. Ami reached up and stroked the furry little head gently. Her fist paled and tightened around the handle of her school bag. The mysterious disappearing six o'clock bus at Sendai Hill was approaching. Mizuno left her musings behind and braced herself. There were more important things at hand.  
  


_

* * *

"What have you done to our family?"  
  
"What kind of establishment are you running here? Children are missing on your doorstep!"  
  
"You have powers, don't you? Use them! Find my kid!"  
  
"Do you see? Her face, like ice... She has no reaction at all... What a sinister place!"_  
  
Rei sighed, emptying her mind into the oracle pyre once again. It was hard to focus, although she could not confidently say why.  
  
Five hilltops met to form the Sendai Hills, and an illusionary "Sixth Hill". Those who remembered this old tale claimed that was where the six o'clock bus and all its missing passengers have gone. They were calling it _kamikakushii_, a divine disappearance. Rei was not so sure. Something nagged at her from the depths of memories, further beyond the back of her mind. There was a feeling that she did know what was going on, but having nothing more, she was hesitant to trust it.  
  
The sunset spilled across the shougi screens, staining them a decadent, bloody colour. It was a disquieting shade that had always aroused in her a great sense of hatred and disgust which Rei could not understand. The fire flickered at her wandering attention.  
  
Suddenly, a moment of clarity. She jumped to her feet and dashed out. _Five fifty-seven_, her watch read in digital numerals. There wasn't much time.  
  
There were three things in her fire, one, the silhouette of a young man hoarding souls, his head crowned in short golden waves; two was a girl, Mizuno Ami, she was sure of it; and three, unsurprisingly, an absolutely unremarkable bus leaving the Hikawa bus-stop. She did not yet know how they were connected, and she did not particularly care. The only problem, as far as she was concerned, was that they were trespassing on her territory and she was not about to allow that.  
  
The bus was just pulling into its stop as she finally reached the street. She could feel it, something heavily out of place with something at the front of the bus, in the driver's seat. The old, annoying glimmer that was Mizuno was just boarding, leading another string of victims, she presumed, racing across the street.  
  
"Who are you?" She shouted, scrambling onto the bus behind Mizuno, cutting in front of an irate queue. "What do you...?" Ami whipped around, startled at the sound of her voice, but Rei's eyes were fixed on the driver as he turned his head, slowly, towards her, watching her, and smiled at her. There was something awful and inhuman about those eyes, about that smile.  
  
"You shouldn't be cutting lines, even a pretty young lady like you. Now, why don't you come in?" He extended a hand to Rei.  
  
_It's as if she is hypnotised_, Ami thought, watching the fire die in the proud priestess' eyes as she took the driver's hand and moved docilely onto the bus, shuffling towards the back.  
  
"Ami-chan!" Luna whispered under Ami's feet, exclaiming alarm. "The driver!"  
  
Mizuno shoved the cat back out of sight under a front row seat and hurried after Rei, sliding into the place beside her. Luna soon joined them again, leaping nimbly into Ami's lap. "Hino-san," Ami probed, but received no response.  
  
An insistent dullness started to press into Ami's skull. She struggled against its heavy lull to see Luna curl up in her lap and fall asleep, just as everyone else drooped, held in thrall, like Rei.  
  
"Next stop, eternity." The driver announced as Ami slipped away. No-one seemed to notice.  
  


_

* * *

There was something familiar in the ancient stone passages, something someone was whispering to her from a distance in words she could barely hear and a language she did not understand._  
  
"Ami-chan!" A sharp pain shot through her drifting fantasies and Mizuno bolted awake. "Gomen, Ami-chan..." Luna looked slightly ashamed, lapping at her smarting fingers.  
  
Ami stood up. "Where are we?" She asked, taking stock of the dim expense of stone pillars and passages. A number of people laid scattered amongst them, dreaming in the grey mist curling around her ankles.  
  
"I don't know." Luna nosed a fallen man as Ami felt for her pen and whispered the magic words. "I think we may be..."  
  
"Underground." Ami finished, adjusting her Heads-Up-Display visor. When her demands for an operating manual proved fruitless, Ami did the next best thing, which was to spend hours behind closed doors as Sailor Mercury, experimenting. While she still could not get the readouts to go away, she had started to figure out some of the more common symbols, and the one she was about to identify now was the sign for "imminent danger". It was a relatively simple one since it was blinking madly over something vaguely reminiscent of a troll in a bus-driver's uniform and made parts of her display flash red.  
  
Luna cried out. Sailor Mercury squeaked and threw her arms up over her face. A terrifying roar thundered through the chambers.  
  
Jadeite looked up from Rei's unconscious face, his fingers still sliding absently through her long, silken tresses. He could not explain it. She was the reason he picked the Sendai bus-route and went to Hikawa. Something about her drove him to distraction even as he'd first laid eyes on her, an inexplicable mix of instant hostility and admiration. A part of him knew her, had always known, it seemed. The problem was it was not a part of himself that he recognised. He had to possess her. To find out what that response was, and why she stirred it. She would make a beautiful subordinate, if Beryl would allow him to have one.  
  
His first thought was to lash out at Kigan for the disturbance. He knew, of course, dropping the young Priestess, that the howling was not unprovoked. Still, he disliked being interrupted.  
  
The youma Kigan crashed into a pillar, swatting blindly at a pair of large, screeching crows. Jadeite frowned, wondering how they had arrived. He pointed at the crows, perturbed, having never thought anything more of them than as Hino Rei's exotic pets.  
  
"Stop!" A little girl's voice cried with the slightly trembling tone of one who knew the request would have no effect but continued to hope anyway. "... Please?"  
  
Something clicked in Jadeite's mind. Nobody except that annoying Sailor V has ever caught on to them yet. Suppose there were more where she came from? The mortified rage over his recent failure found a reason and target. "You... you're the one who took out Morga...?"  
  
"Let these people go!"  
  
"And who might you be, little girl?"  
  
"I... I..." Ami paused. It was not a question she has had to answer before. She looked helplessly around for a clue. The electronically rendered voice of Sailor V came to her mind, _For Love and Justice, I, Sailor V, shall punish you! _Somehow, it worked in video games. In real life, however, it sounded like the most ridiculous thing she could do. Ami raised her arms and attacked, instead.  
  
The white fog spread from her fingertips, blowing over the youma and Jadeite, then, recoiling against Jadeite began to sink and subside. The grey cloud about their feet thickened. He was condensing Mercury's mist into ice. Rei woke to the sharp sting of frost on her face.  
  
Jadeite snickered, unable to help himself, at the sight of the inept teenager in white and blue aspiring to challenge him, Jadeite of the Four Kings. Behind him, Rei started to pull herself upright, her eyes slowly adjusting to the cavernous surroundings.  
  
Her other senses came back before she was able to make out anything in the dim and haze. Someone stood in front of her, neither dead nor alive and the source, she knew instantly, of all that has been wrong lately. Across from him was a familiar pale blue aura, although the person it radiated from was a stranger obscured by distance and the grey and white miasma. "Mizuno... san?"  
  
Jadeite whipped around. How did she break free of his hypnosis? "You..." Rei's eyes widened in realisation as she got a good look at his face. "Jado... I should have ..."  
  
"It's Jed! Jed!" The man screamed, wrapping his fingers around Rei's neck. "Jed! For Jedeite!" He squeezed, throttling her on each word for emphasis, lost in a livid cloud of rage. "Always... you...! Never! Get! My! Name! Right! Why!"  
  
Rei choked, tearing wildly at his stone-like grip. "Hino-san!" Ami cried, scrambling towards them. Kigan broke away from his own assaulters and scooped Sailor Mercury up in a bear hug, crushed and pinned against his own chest.  
  
"Rei-chan!" From the corner of her eye, through the visor, Ami saw _that girl_ again. She was just an obscured silhouette, dainty, in a full-skirted dress, her hair caught in buns on the sides of her head before being allowed to roll down her back in waves, the girl at the jewellery store on Juubankai who gave Ami the power to become Sailor Mercury. She tossed something in the air. "Use this!"  
  
It glinted as it arced through the air and cluttered uselessly on the floor, lost in the miasmic fog. The crows screamed, diving at their Master's attacker. Jadeite dropped her finally to hurl the madly clawing, pecking birds out of his hair. Rei fell to the ground sputtering.  
  
Her fingers came to rest on the fallen object and a light bloomed, setting her head on fire.  
  
_Glowing heat._ "Ko no... hoteri..." It rose out of her, an all-consuming memory led by the sad cries of her spirit companions, Phobus and Deimos. "A're wa... watashi..." She fell away, in her mind, tumbling backwards calmly, gracefully, into the heart of Hell, into the searing flames of a memory long ago. The words came to her, a soft whisper on her lips.  
  
"Mars Power... Make Up..."  
  
It consumed her, and she became nothing. And from those ashes, she felt herself become reborn, blossom, like a new fire from dying embers, rising, like a phoenix. _Hino Rei_, She heard her own voice whisper to herself from far away. _Hi no Rei... Who are you?_ It demanded. Who... who...  
  
_I... I am..._  
  
She woke, feeling different, but the same. Stronger, surer, and quite, quite annoyed.  
  
"Hino-san..."  
  
"Phobos! Deimos!" The crows circled and dove for Jadeite's eyes. She gathered herself. It felt familiar, as though she had trained all her life for this. _I?_ Her spirit burned fiercely deep inside her, and she felt it, clearer, keener, than ever before. There has always been a certainty in herself that she had made up to carry her through, but this confidence, this new certainty, this was real.  
  
_I am Hino Rei, the Beautiful Flame... I am..._ "Fire... SOUL!"

__

* * *


End file.
